Wednesday night’s Arizona vs. BYU game will showcase some of the most impressive freshmen in men’s college basketball, but the Wildcats will be down one of their most important young stars for the occasion.
The program announced that freshman forward Koa Peat, a key player for Tommy Lloyd, suffered a “muscle strain in his lower leg area.” He will not be reevaluated until next week, costing him a showdown with the Cougars’ AJ Dybantsa—the potential No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft—on Wednesday.
Arizona will also be without reserve freshman forward Dwayne Aristode against BYU due to illness.
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Peat does it all for the No. 4 Wildcats. He is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.8 points per game, tied for second at 2.6 assists per game, and third in rebounding with 5.4 boards per night. Peat is shooting .542/.333/.606 on the season.
Aristode averages 4.7 points and two rebounds in 15.5 minutes per night, and is a solid three-point threat off the bench.
Arizona began the season 23–0 and were the No. 1 team in the country before dropping two games last week, an 82–78 thriller at Kansas and a 78–75 overtime loss at home against Texas Tech.
The Wildcats follow those two losses with two more games against ranked opponents: Wednesday’s home date with No. 23 BYU and a marquee Saturday afternoon road game at No. 2 Houston. Based on Arizona’s announcement, Peat will be out for those two games at minimum.
After a trip to Baylor next Tuesday, Arizona has a set of back-to-back games against top 10 opponents in No. 8 Kansas and No. 6 Iowa State on Saturday, Feb. 28 and Monday, March 2.
The Wildcats have proven that they’re one of the best teams in the country, and if Peat’s injury proves to be mild, a February swoon won’t be too severe a setback for Lloyd’s program, but this is a particularly unforgiving stretch of games for Arizona to be anything short of full strength.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arizona Will Be Without Star Freshman for Wednesday’s Showdown With AJ Dybantsa, BYU.
